Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus and a method for cutting a large sheet block obtained by stacking a plurality of large sheets into finally provide small blocks such as paper money or postcards. In particular, the invention relates to a technique for realizing a highly accurate finishing.
Description of the Related Art
Patent Literature 1 discloses a step of placing a sheet obtained by arranging and printing many paper monies to strap this placed sheet while cutting the sheet into small blocks. An apparatus by the practical realization of this invention uses a method of using one pusher to intermittently send the placed sheet into a cutting means to divide the sheet into small blocks, i.e., a method of using the one pusher to send the placed sheet into the cutting means until the division of the placed sheet is completed.
This publication includes a primary division step to firstly divide the placed sheet on the basis of a column unit and a secondary division step to further divide, on the basis of a printing unit, the placed sheet divided on the basis of a column unit. In the above conventional example, one pusher is used to feed sheets into the cutting means until the division of one placed sheet is completed in any of a step of dividing the sheet based on the column unit and a step of dividing the sheet based on the printing unit.
However, in the case of such a conventional technique, after the feeding of the placed sheet into the cutting means by the pusher is completed, the subsequent feeding of the placed sheet cannot be started immediately. Specifically, at least during the period in which the pusher returns from the position at which the feeding of one placed sheet is completed (cutting-completed position) to the position at which the feeding is started, the subsequent feeding of the placed sheet is stopped, causing a significant loss in the feeding operation. This feeding loss is accumulated for each placed sheet. This accumulated loss disadvantageously causes a significant decrease in the operating efficiency of the cutting apparatus, causing a remarkable decrease in the processing capability of the entire line including the cutting apparatus.
Patent Literature 2 is an invention by the applicant of this application to solve the problem of the conventional technique. Specifically, this invention provides a cutting apparatus that can divide a placed sheet into small blocks with a high efficiency.
Specifically, a cutting apparatus including a conveyance rail for supporting the lower face of a placed sheet to guide the conveyance and a cutting means for dividing the placed sheet supported and supplied by the conveyance rail into a plurality of small blocks is configured to include the first pusher for intermittently feeding the placed sheet to the cutting means until the halfway of the placed sheet to supply the sheet to the primary division and the second pusher for carrying on the operation of the first pusher to intermittently feed the remaining placed sheet subjected to the primary division to the cutting means. The first pusher and the second pusher are arranged to return to the respective feed start positions while the first pusher and the second pusher are respectively performing the intermittent feeding so that the next intermittent feeding can be started.
According to the invention of Patent Literature 2, the first pusher can immediately start the subsequent feeding of the placed sheet prior to the completion of the sheet feeding by the second pusher. This can securely solve the operation loss in the conventional example caused by the pusher returning from a position at which the preceding feeding of the placed sheet is completed to a position at which the subsequent feeding of the placed sheet is started. Furthermore, the repetition of the alternate feeding operations by the first and second pushers for each placed sheet can effectively solve the accumulated loss to significantly improve the operation efficiency of the cutting apparatus, thus allowing the entire line including the cutting apparatus to have a remarkably-improved processing capability.
The invention of Patent Literature 3 suggests a method for cutting a not-printed strip while rotating stacked sheets. Specifically, the method has the following respective steps. In order to cut the first not-printed strip of the stacked sheets, the stacked sheets is conveyed to the lower side of a blade and the first strip is cut. Then, the stacked sheets are conveyed and the first rotation is performed. Then, in order to cut the second not-printed strip, the second not-printed strip is guided again to the lower side of the blade and the second strip is cut. A stacked body is then conveyed to cause the second rotation to be performed. Then, in order to cut the third not-printed strip, the third not-printed strip is guided again to the lower side of the blade to cut the third strip and continuous superimposed strips of valuable securities. Then, the continuous superimposed strips of valuable securities are cut to provide individual valuable securities.